I want to thank everyone who voted and took part in this latest Boards Community Nomination for IGN Spotlight. We received a ton of votes and in general, people were awesome about voting for someone they truly felt deserved to be put in the IGN spotlight. We are now happy to announce the winner from the Vesti!

In addition to being given the IGN main page spotlight, sum was kind enough to do a mini-interview, to help get those who may not know him a little bit of an idea on just what makes him such a valued member of the Vesti.
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1. Tell us a bit about yourself, if you like? Where you're from, why you joined, etc.

I am a college student in North Carolina who is interested in radio production. I used to be a big Newgrounds fan (I still check the site sometimes, but it's not as good as it was back in the day), and I would frequent the forums there. One of my friends back in high school showed me IGN and a couple of the classic threads like Polish Neighbor and that one where the Asian lady was photoshopped on a Slowpoke (can't recall the name, I think it was a biblical verse) and I was amazed at how less strict IGN was than Newgrounds. I guess it was that new sense of freedom that made me want to join IGN and even though my friend who introduced me to IGN is now permabanned () and will remain nameless, I owe it to him for all of the laughs I've had and friends I've made on here.

2. Are you an avid gamer? If so, what are some of your all time favorites, and why?

I have not bought a video game in over a year, so I'm definitely not as big into gaming as I was in the past. I think the last one I bought was Skyward Sword a little after it came out, so it may be even longer. My whole life I've only had Nintendo products, I still don't have a Wii U but the new Smash Bros game is making it tempting.

As far as favorite games go, I love the Paper Mario series where Super Paper Mario is my favorite of that bunch. I also dig the 3D Mario games where Super Mario Sunshine stands out to me the most, I remember when I was younger being so blown away by the level design and I love how it doesn't spoonfeed you like Galaxy did. Pokémon Gold was a large part of my childhood, as was Super Smash Bros. Melee. All in all, the Gamecube is probably my favorite system I've ever owned. My other favorite games include Link to the Past, Punch-Out!!, Tecmo Bowl, Madden 2005 (dat gameplay, dat Panthers team, dat soundtrack ), Animal Crossing, and NBA Courtside 2002.

3. What is your all-time favorite moment on the Vesti?

So tough to pick just one. A moment that really stands out is when I was playing Words that Follow with a bunch of other users and the same picture kept popping up over and over and we kept referencing it in other threads. That probably sounds pretty lame unless you were there so I'll name a couple others.

4. What feature, idea, or general steps would you like to see IGN take in order to improve the Vesti?

Editing titles would be rad since we used to have it on the old Vesti, but sometimes the irreversible mistakes people make are hilarious.

5. Who are some of your all-time favorite users?

Way too many to name them all. @djcs (formerly known as CastALittleCloser) was the first guy who was ever nice to me on here and his kindness went a long way. I don't think he posts here anymore, but if you ever see this buddy, LOOK AT ME NOW, WE MADE IT!!

At this point I don't even know. I normally take three years on a forum before calling it quits and growing bored of it, but something about the Vesti is hypnotic. Maybe it's the siren song of making threads and making people laugh, but there's a ton of great users on here who I enjoy posting with so all in all it's probably the conversations I have with them that makes the Vesti an internet staple of mine.

7. A challenger approaches -- Who is it?

I can't really tell...might have to shine some light on it....

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That's all for now, folks! If you have any thoughts or ideas on how we can improve the spotlight thread, feel free to offer suggestions.